Meal Plans Week of 6-19-11

Happy Father's Day!!  What a blessing to have both a loving father and husband to celebrate with today.  We already celebrated as a family on Friday.  We went to a Whitecaps baseball game.  A challenge with two little ones, but definitely fun.  And today we'll be heading to the east side of the state to spend time with my whole family.  Hopefully we can make it to church on time.

I still can't believe we're over half way through June already.  Summer hasn't actually started yet, and I feel like it's almost over!  We're still waiting to hear about a new niece or nephew (my poor SIL :P).  Maybe they'll get a father's day surprise.

Last week we kept plenty busy with errands, doctor appts. and outings.  I also got a few things done in the kitchen - nut butter pancakes, sd muffins/bread, salad dressing, roasted beets, kefir, hot fudge and strawberry bread (the bread is for our gathering today).

This week is another busy one.  Today we'll be gone most of the day visiting family.  Monday is Meijer, and we might go strawberry picking in the afternoon.  Tuesday is farmer's market.  I also have to get bloodwork done to recheck my thyroid, so I'll likely do that on Tuesday.  And Justin has to meet with our financial advisor (I think I'll stay home with the kids).  Wednesday is Harvest Health and co-op pick up.  Thursday I have an appt. with my psychologist.  No plans for Friday or Saturday yet.  Mostly catch up on things at home.

My main goal in the kitchen this week is dealing with strawberries.  They are at their peak right now.  So I'll be stocking up either if we go picking or at the farmer's market.  Then I'd like to freeze a bunch, dry some, make fruit leather, possibly jam and bake with them.  I think I'll make strawberry shortcake later this week.  Aside from that there is a chance I'll make a batch of granola.  And I'll be making a big batch of crispy nuts.  Plus dealing with any other fresh produce we get.

We got our beef last week.  My freezer is packed!  We'll be taking some of it with us today to give to my brother and SIL (they are splitting the 1/2 with us).  We can't quite get it all with our coolers today.  They'll pick up the rest in a few weeks.  I'm very excited to try our new meat...but I should probably use up our older stuff first :P

Stil working on baptism plans.  I think we have the song picked out.  We still have to find a verse and finalize party plans/menus.

Health status - I got the baby probiotic and my digestive enzymes.  I want to start one of them this week (not sure which yet) and see how it goes/if I notice any difference.  I'll do the other one next week.  I started a full dose of probiotic for myself last week.  Seems to be going fine.  I'm getting a lot better about remembering to chew well.  I think that really helps me digest things...especially raw food.  I still often have sugar cravings.  But I'm finding that what I'm really craving is fat and crunch.  So if after a meal I feel like I want something sweet I often eat a few nuts and it totally satisfies my cravings.  It's helping me stay away from sweets.  I had broth every day last week.  And I'm hoping to keep it up.  My plan will be to make a big batch on Saturdays for the following week. I couldn't do it yesterday since I couldn't get at anything in my freezer :P  But after we unload some beef I will be able to.  At least I could get some of my frozen chicken broth out to have the next couple days.  Still experimenting with foods.  I found out this week that brussels sprouts do not go over well with me or Abram right now.  Poor guy.  I can't really eat/handle any gassy veggies right now...for either of us.  I used to eat gassy veggies all the time.  I never noticed any difference because I had so much gas/bloating all the time no matter what.  Now that I'm feeling a lot better and don't have that I finally notice which particular foods really bother me.  It's nice to be able to pinpoint some of the culprits.  I ate some pretty junky food at the baseball game and am still recovering from that.  I wish they had some better options.  I'm really enjoying the GAPS pancakes and want to try to have them on hand most of the time.  I had one yesterday with some homemade almond pecan butter.  What a treat!  Finally I'm still figuring out what bothers Abram.  One big thing I learned this week is that reflux is not his main problem...gas is.  Yes, he does have reflux.  But as long as we keep him up/burp him well he isn't too bothered by it.  It's more of a momentary fussiness.  The thing that makes him cry/scream, go stiff, not want to settle down is gas.  So that's where I need to be careful about what I eat.  Definitely no gassy veggies (so far brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli are off my list).  The toughest part about that is that Rebecca is being very picky about veggies lately...and those are 3 of her favorites/ones she will actually eat.  So I have to make separate veggies for our meals :P  And stick to just a few.  I'm doing my best to get a little variety.  I'm pretty sure that coconut flour bothers him.  Not sure yet about coconut oil (I hope not!).  I think ice cream bothers him (my absolute favorite food...sigh).  Not sure about all dairy.  I've only been eating very small amounts of dairy here and there.  I tried a kefir smoothie last week.  I think I'll try one again this week...see if I can tell anything.  And I've had a little raw cheese the last couple days.  So far I haven't noticed that it bothered him.  It's amazing the difference in his day when he has gas issues and when he doesn't.  When he doesn't he's such a happy baby...starting to give us lots of smiles :)  He plays a lot.  Is calm.  And he sleeps pretty well at night (last couple nights have been great...just wakes up a couple times to eat and goes right back out).  When his tummy hurts he's either screaming or sleeping (eventually zonks after he cries for a while...and sleeps most of the day).  It's sad.  There isn't much you can do for him...just wait it out.  The crying is hard on all of us.  I do use tummy drops once in a while if I can tell he's in pain.  Hopefully the baby probiotic will help too.  I'm doing my best to be very careful about what I eat.  I feel guilty when I eat something that makes his tummy hurt.  I think I ate well yesterday, so hopefully today he'll have a good day :)  At least this is helping me stay on track with GAPS.  If I eat how I should for my own healing I won't be eating stuff that bothers him either.

I guess that's a long enough update for today.  Here's what's on the menu.
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S (Good Shepherd/parents house, Father's Day)
  B - chicken broth, hard boiled egg, avocado (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  L - at my parents - salad bar?
  D - steak salad (me), leftover beef, carrots and tator tots (Justin)

M (prep dinner, Meijer, strawberry picking)
  B - chicken broth, hard boiled egg, avocado (me), sd english muffin strawberry bread, fruit (Justin)
  D - prep ahead - meatloaf in cp (using ground beef/liver mix and no oats), baked potato, beans, beets

T (FM, bloodwork, soak almonds, pecans and walnuts, make soup, freeze strawberries, EJ)
  B - hard boiled eggs, strawberry bread, beans, beets, olives
  D - lasagna, corn (Justin), chicken soup (me)

W (freeze strawberries, make mayo, dry nuts, HH, co-op pick up)
  B - soup (me), yogurt, strawberries, oatmeal muffins (Justin)
  D - gf salmon cakes, peas, chips

Th (prep smoothies, Dr. V., dry strawberries, make raisins)
  B - muffins, strawberry smoothie (Justin), soup (me)
  D - sausage and zucchini quiche, gf muesli scones (from freezer), beets, strawberry applesauce

F (bake granola, clean, put away laundry, garage sale, dry strawberries)
  B - soup (me), sd english muffin (Justin)
  D - grilled hamburgers (on bun for Justin, pancakes for me), grilled asparagus, beets, zucchini, applesauce, chips

S (laundry, block party, make strawberry shortcake, grind flour, make pizza dough)
  B - leftover quiche (Justin), soup (me)
  D - homemade sausage and veggie pizza, salad (Justin), leftover quiche, salad (me)